Crazy busy week but we have to eat...

Our garden is coming along beautifully!  We've had quite a bit of rain lately, so even though it makes me want to hibernate like a bear, I know the plants are loving it.  We even picked some lettuce for Sunday night's dinner!

This week will be ridiculously busy:
Monday: Hubs has a History Fair meeting after school
Tuesday: school-wide writing test and Scouts that evening
Wednesday: Hubs has an after-school appointment
Thursday: Hubs has class and I will be out of town all day at our Music Performance Assessment (MPA)
Friday: MPA day two for me, and after school, Hubs will be getting ready for a yard sale fundraiser
Saturday: Yard sale fundraiser for History Club, and ds has bowling.

And we haven't even started it yet!
So here's the food plan:

Sunday~ Leftover beef tenderloin for lunch.  Pizza from the freezer and salad from the garden for dinner.  YUM!
Monday~ Some form of Mexican-seasoned steak, refried beans, Pioneer Woman's Mexican Rice, quesadillas
Tuesday~ Leftover spaghetti (from Saturday) with cheese bread and perhaps a salad
Wednesday~ some kind of chicken something, specifics yet to be determined
Thursday~ MPA - fend for yourself
Friday~ MPA - we'll see how it works out because I don't know what time I'll be home and what time they have to set up for the yard sale!
Saturday~ it remains to be seen...

Share your ideas and inspirations at Menu Plan Monday.

Changing thoughts about food and how we get it... and our menu

Blueberry blossoms... can't wait for these beauties!

We are blessed to have a big back yard and my husband has a beautiful garden every year.  Not only does he grow delicious produce, but it helps keep the food bill down and we eat a little healthier as well.

Our greens: broccoli, chard, arugula, romaine, leaf lettuce, spinach, and cabbage (not in this pic)

As the weather warms, our bounty will include corn, all kinds of tomatoes, green beans, peas, and whatever else suits hubby's fancy.  We have herbs in pots: thyme, parsley, oregano, chives, and rosemary.  I love it!

I've still got a little tomato sauce, TONS of bell peppers, collards, and green beans in the freezer from last year.

Nothing from the garden is ready to eat just yet, but it gets me excited.  I'm seriously thinking that when I decide to retire from teaching, we might open a stand at our local farmer's market.  There is something so grounding about picking the food you grow, and sharing it with people.  And after watching Changing the Way We Eat online yesterday, I'm inspired to do more.

That said, here's our menu for this week, trying to be responsible and use the food we have, not wasting it.
Sunday~ homemade lasagna for the guys while I help host a wedding shower with my grandmother
Monday~ teacher work day (no school for kids) - we will have Orange Chicken with basmati rice and broccoli from a friend's garden, using up some chicken from my mom's surprise birthday party last week
Tuesday~ Roast in the crockpot with mushrooms and green beans (freezer), whole wheat egg noodles, and homemade bread
Wednesday~ Breakfast for dinner: farm eggs (supplied by some friends), bacon, cheese grits, pink grapefruit from our tree
Thursday~ Leftovers...there will be plenty!
Friday~ DS heads to a Boy Scout campout, so hubs and I will enjoy beef tenderloin, twice-baked potatoes, and salad - it will be the Valentine's Dinner we didn't have last week!
Saturday~ Not planning anything... a relaxing easy day before a crazy busy week coming up!

Share your menus at Menu Plan Monday... 

and do one thing to handle your food more responsibly. :)

New month, new menu!

Happy February!
I'm hoping this month brings a little return to normalcy...
I've been out of my classroom for 2 months while my school district has been deciding how to handle the smell of a giant tom-cat spraying all over my room.  They tried chemicals galore, foggers, and finally this week, they took the carpet out.
So I really hope that there is new carpet in my classroom when I get there on Monday!
(Try teaching choir in a gym for 2 months... while PE is having class, all manner of machines are going off, not to mention awful acoustics!)

We semi-followed last week's menu.
We've started a brand new month, so here's to a new menu!
Sunday~ Birthday lunch out with extended family; dinner was leftovers from last week (spaghetti, tossed salad, etc)
Monday~ Using up leftover chicken, and making mashed potatoes & gravy to go along with it, a green salad alongside for some veg
Tuesday~ A night of leftovers: Pioneer Woman's Mexican Rice (from Saturday), spaghetti (from Thursday), and other numerous odds & ends.
Wednesday~ Melissa d'Arabian's potato torte and green salads.

Thursday~ Pioneer Woman's chili.  It's a fave around here!

Friday~ Breakfast for Dinner: eggs, bacon, cheese grits, grapefruit

Saturday~ Planning to roast the turkey that we never got to in January... we shall see!

We also began planting our garden this weekend... so far, we've planted swiss chard, romaine, arugula, iceberg lettuce, spinach and broccoli.  Hubby also put some new herbs in pots for me - oregano, basil, parsley, thyme, and rosemary.  Yum!!!

Digging the hole for the plant

Careful...

Covering the beds with gardening fabric to help with weed control

Share in the Menu Madness at Menu Plan Monday!